In high-performance bicycles, in particular but not exclusively in racing bicycles, hydraulically-controlled disc brakes have been widely used for some time, said disc brakes being very popular because they are capable of ensuring a high braking power. These brakes provide for a brake disc mounted on a wheel of the bicycle and rotating as a unit with it and a caliper group mounted on a load-bearing element of the bicycle and active on the disc. The caliper group also comprises a caliper body, inside which at least one pair of jaws is mounted, movable towards one another and provided with respective friction pads for engaging with the brake disc on opposite sides thereof; a hydraulic system is provided for in the caliper body to control the jaws. The hydraulic system of the caliper body must be supplied with pressurized fluid (generally oil) and consequently the bicycle must be equipped with a tube for supplying pressurized fluid and with a hydraulic brake control to control the supply of pressurized fluid in the tube.
The arrangement of the tube on the bicycle can provide for the tube to be partially housed inside the load-bearing elements of the bicycle, such as the handlebars, the fork and the frame.
The tube and the relative fittings can lead to a worsening of the aerodynamic characteristics of the bicycle; such worsening can be particularly unwanted in the case of racing bicycles, where the greatest care is applied to each detail that can improve performance. Furthermore, a tube housed inside the load-bearing elements of the bicycle is protected from bumps and does not risk becoming tangled with foreign bodies that can be located very close to the bicycle when in motion. Finally, a tube housed internally is not visible and therefore does not disturb the aesthetics of the bicycle.
A caliper group is known that is mounted on the load-bearing element of the bicycle right at an opening from which the tube for supplying pressurized fluid comes out, through a base member. The base member acts as a mechanical interface between the caliper group and the load-bearing element of the bicycle. The Applicant has however realized that the vibrations that are produced while the bicycle is travelling on the road can cause a loosening of the fasteners with which the caliper group is fixed to the base member and/or of the fasteners with which the base member is fixed to the load-bearing element. In both cases it is necessary to retighten the loosened fasteners; in the second case, furthermore, in order to be able to tighten the fasteners it is necessary to first dismount the caliper group from the base member, in order to be able to gain access to the loosened fasteners. Then a relatively long and complex intervention is necessary, which—if it needs to be carried out during a race—would unacceptably penalize the cyclist.
The present invention therefore refers to a caliper group having a fixing side configured to rest directly on a load-bearing element with the hydraulic connector positioned on the fixing side that addresses the problem of retightening the fasteners.